Could a $168 Bracelet Revive the Native American Economy?

One in three Native Americans are practicing artists, but one in four live below the poverty line. By merging her business acumen with Native Americans' natural talent, Etkie founder Sydney Alfonso hopes to change that latter stat.

Last year, 43-year-old Dru Chackee was homeless, beading bracelets to sell to tourists in Tohajiilee, New Mexico, a community that currently has an unemployment rate above 70 percent. As each day grew to a close, Chackee, who has been beading since she was 13, would lower her prices from $25 to $10 per bracelet, simply to come away with "something." This year, however, Chackee is one of three Native American artisans beading luxury bracelets for a newly launched jewelry and social enterprise called Etkie, which brings marketing, sales, and financial resources to talented—but often underemployed—female beaders across New Mexico.

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Stocked in high-end boutiques like Colette in Paris and Alchemy Works in Los Angeles, each Etkie piece, priced between $168 and $595, can take up to eight hours to make. With an estimated 30 percent of American Indians identifying as practicing artists (and one in four living below the poverty line), Etkie is the first jewelry brand to bring their specialized skills to the mass market.

"The women we work with, the average yearly income is $7,500, and that's 30 minutes from my doorstep," explains Etkie's founder, Sydney Alfonso, who grew up in Estancia, New Mexico. "It's not about saying, 'Well, how do we employ them?' It's more like, 'Oh my goodness, they have all of this talent and no one is really tapping into it!' We're trying to take the resources that I can offer and leverage them to create a phenomenal business. The allure is there, the richness in culture and heritage is there, so I just want to position our brand to be able to make the most amount of difference in their community."

A photo posted by Etkie (@etkie_official) on Feb 12, 2015 at 8:26am PST

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Depending on the style (each piece varies in difficulty), Etkie's artisans are paid between $8.75 and $10 an hour, considerably above New Mexico's minimum wage of $7.50. So far, Etkie (which means "impact" in Turkish) is able to employ only three women: Chackee; Priscilla Chapo, 52; and Valeen Whitehorse, 32. However the company just received $35,000 in funding from VAF Funding to hire more local artisans.

"They've all been beading since they were 12 or 13; it's a matriarchal tradition passed down from generations as a way to help their families earn money and survive through financial ups and downs," says 24-year-old Alfonso. "Dru really likes the Zen of beading, and Priscilla and Val both like that they have the ability to earn money while staying at home with their families."

It was while studying geography at Vermont's Middlebury College that Alfonso was first introduced to jewelry design, with artisan co-ops in southeast Turkey and Istanbul while abroad during her junior year. "I met these phenomenal artisans and it was like, 'Oh my gosh, you're selling this stuff for way too cheap! The east coast girls I go to school with would pay quadruple for this!' So I brought jewelry back with me and did trunk shows and went to sororities, peddling up and down the coast." Alfonso admits that though business is not her strong suit ("I definitely Google everything!" she laughs), she is having fun learning along the way.

A photo posted by Etkie (@etkie_official) on Apr 22, 2015 at 1:25pm PDT

Also eager to emphasize the collaborative aspect of Etkie, Alfonso refers to all aspects of her business with "we" rather than "I." She admits she is wary of coming across as a "white girl" saving Native Americans, and stresses that they are "a team." "I just happen to have a different skill set," she says, adding that working alongside her employees is especially important when it comes to appropriating indigenous design for modern jewelry.

Using "really old" patterns like Navajo textiles from the 1800s, Alfonso will then add "a bit of flair," as she puts it, which is always signed off by each artisan before they begin beading. "It's using their patterns and adding my spin, which is a good metaphor for our business. They have their skills, culture, heritage, and then I'm adding design, commerce, branding. We're working together to create something special," she says. "I want Etkie to be a company that believes in the underdog, that believes in the power of individuals to rise above their circumstances and create the kind of lives they want to lead so we do our best to facilitate that as much as we can with our limited resources."